


Footnotes

by mylionheart



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Feminist Themes, Gen, Misogyny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-21 22:53:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11367306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mylionheart/pseuds/mylionheart
Summary: Izumi has a problem with her history books.





	Footnotes

**Author's Note:**

> "The accomplishments of women have always been booted to the footnotes."

“Dad! Ty Lee and the Kyoshi warriors are here to visit!” Izumi said excitedly. She ran into the sitting room, where Zuko, Mai, and Iroh were taking their afternoon tea, clutching Ty Lee’s hand.

Ty Lee bowed respectfully before seizing both Zuko and Mai into an enthusiastic hug. “I missed you guys so much! Me and the other warriors are here to supervise some important shipments, but I just had to come visit. How’s everything here?” It seemed that both age and her warrior lifestyle hadn’t been able to dampen Ty Lee’s bubbly attitude.

“It’s good to see you too, Ty Lee. The nation is doing fine.” Zuko said, after freeing himself from Ty Lee’s hold. Ty Lee reluctantly let go of Mai and took a seat next to her, accepting the cup of tea Iroh poured for her. Izumi quickly threw herself next to Ty Lee, gesturing for her father’s attention.

“Dad, on the way here Ty Lee was telling me this super cool story about aunt Azula!” She said.

“Was she?” Said Zuko warily, glancing at Ty Lee.

Ty Lee had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. “What? I was telling a good one.”

“She was telling me about how aunt Azula invaded Ba Sing Se by disguising herself as a Kyoshi warrior and gaining the loyalty of the Earth King and Ba Sing Se’s police the Dai Li, even though their leader Long Feng was planning to double cross aunt Azula using the Dai Li because he thought they were ultimately loyal to him, but when Long Feng ordered the Dai Li to attack aunt Azula, none of them even moved! Because they knew aunt Azula was so much more powerful, and then Long Feng was like,” Izumi put on a deep voice, “ ‘You've beaten me at my own game.’ And aunt Azula was like,” To do her best impression of her aunt, Izumi stood up straight and put her hands behind her back, and adopted a confident, high-pitched tone. “ ‘Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player.’ ” Izumi sat back down and sighed. “Aunt Azula was so cool. Too bad she went crazy.” She remarked, with the tactlessness of a child, while reaching for a tea cookie.

“My niece was a brilliant tactician. Had she put her skill to good use by freeing the world rather than conquering it, we might not have even needed the Avatar.” Iroh commented.

“Ty Lee said aunt Azula was a real prodigy. She was the first person to have blue fire in almost two hundred years!”

“Ty Lee’s certainly telling you a lot,” said Mai, raising an eyebrow at Ty Lee, who was looking suitably discomfited. “But what she failed to mention is that Azula was relentless and cruel, and treated others like objects unless they were directly useful to her. She was far from ‘cool’.”

Izumi deflated slightly. “I know, Mom. But she was a military genius, and they barely even mention her in my history textbook! They talk more about the Dai Li and the Earth King, but they only wrote like three sentences about aunt Azula’s invasion of Ba Sing Se.” Izumi frowned.  
“It’s not fair. I know aunt Azula wasn’t a nice person, but she was first female general of the Fire Nation at the age of fourteen and she managed to conquer the impenetrable city, which grown men had been trying to do for almost 100 years. I don’t want to be evil like aunt Azula, but I want to be as powerful as she was.”

“The measure of a person’s character is what they do with power. Your aunt, under command of your grandfather, used power to unwisely disrupt the balance between the four nations. Power is nothing without wisdom, Izumi. Remember that, and you will always be more powerful than Azula and all those who rule unwisely.” Iroh explained sagely, before taking a sip of his tea. 

Zuko nodded. “Uncle’s right, Izumi. Besides, you’re set to become the first female Fire Lord, and that’s something even Azula couldn’t accomplish.”

Izumi frowned once again. “But don’t you think that’s weird, Dad? Like, in all of the history of the Fire Nation, there was never a firstborn girl?”

Zuko hesitated, not sure what he should say to his impressionable daughter. Finally, he settled on, “Well, usually the Royal family prayed to Agni to give them firstborn sons.”

“That’s sad.” said Izumi solemnly. Recovering with the usual versatility of children, she turned to Ty Lee excitedly. “Can you teach me how to use those fans?”

“I would love to!” replied Ty Lee, just as excited. Bidding the proper goodbye to the Royal family, they both went bounding down to the courtyard.

Mai watched them leave and sighed. “ ‘Prayed’? Really, Zuko? She’s not going to stay eight years old forever.”

“Did you really expect me to tell her it was conventional to cast out female firstborns? She would have been crushed.” Zuko replied. “Besides, she shouldn't have to know of that kind of prejudice. It's in the past. By the time she’s old enough to know the truth, it won't really affect her." 

If Mai were less of a undemonstrative woman, she might have snorted in derision. “She’s a girl, Zuko, soon to be a woman. She will _always_ face some sort of prejudice.”

-

It had been a year since the Kyoshi warriors had come to visit, and Izumi, constantly equipped with the metal fans Ty Lee had given her, declared herself to be a master of defensive maneuvering and was perpetually badgering the stoic imperial guards to spar with her.

Zuko was in his office, reviewing a financial plan, when Izumi burst in. Before she could open her mouth, Zuko gave her a strict, reprimanding look. Realizing her mistake, she abashedly went outside, closed the door, and knocked politely.

“Enter.” said Zuko, smiling slightly. Izumi entered and closed the door. In her hands was a thick book.

“Dad, there’s a huge problem.” She declared, setting the book on his desk. “My history book is wrong.”

Frowning slightly, Zuko flipped to the front cover to check the edition, thinking that she might have accidently been given an older installment that undoubtedly would have been filled with Fire Lord Ozai-era propaganda. But, sure enough, her book was the newest edition that he had approved. “What exactly is it wrong about, dear?”

Izumi looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, it’s not really wrong. It’s just forgetting to mention the right things.”

“Like what?” Zuko asked, confused.

“Like,” Izumi opened the book and started looking for a certain page. “This.” She pointed at a large paragraph in a chapter that was judging by the title, about the invasion of the Northern Water tribe. The paragraph detailed the mechanisms of the Northern Water tribe and spoke of its waterbenders, particularly Pakku, Aang’s former waterbending master.

“Izumi, I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is that they call Master Pakku uncle Aang’s waterbending master, when it was really aunt Katara who helped him master waterbending and trained him. They barely mention aunt Katara at all in this chapter, Dad, or in any other chapters for that matter! Even uncle Sokka tells the stories better than this.”

“Izumi, you have to keep in mind that this is a history textbook, not a story.” Though Zuko did suppose it was strange. Almost no mention of Katara? “But, I’ll tell you what, the publishers will be coming by in a month in order to get my approval for an new edition history book. You can voice your complaints to them and if you make a compelling case, they’ll make some adjustments.”

“Really?” she said excitedly.

“Really. But be prepared and respectful. These are accomplished scholars, after all.” Izumi smiled and scampered off, perhaps to prepare a list. Zuko returned to his work, a bit distracted. He wondered briefly if it was a good idea to introduce his young daughter to a professional meeting like that, but shook himself out of those thoughts. The scar across the left side of his face forbid him from speaking out for what he believed in for almost four years. He _will_ teach his daughter to speak her mind.

-

A month passed, and the fateful day of the meeting came.

Izumi sat next to him, clearly anxious, clutching a scroll. She fidgeted in her seat a bit and turned to her father. “Dad, do you really think they’ll listen to me?”

“Izumi, do you remember what Uncle Iroh always says? ‘Words cannot be dismissed if they are grounded in truth.’ If you what you say is true, they’ll listen.” Izumi visibly relaxed and Zuko smiled. “Besides, you’re the crown princess. If they don’t listen to you, I’ll have the banished for treason!”

Izumi giggled, but sat up straight when she heard the knock signifying that their guests are here. Her father called for them to enter and three middle-aged men entered. They bowed respectfully, and sat up when her father gestured for them to do so.

“Fire Lord Zuko, it is an honor to present our writings to you.” said the one in the middle. He had a strange sort of goatee.

“The honor is mine, professor Zakir, but today’s meeting will not be with me. My daughter, crown princess Izumi, has some concerns about your history books that she would like to share with you.”

The professor looked taken back, but his words didn’t betray him. “Uh, of course! We would be honored to hear your concerns, princess.”

Izumi, committed to acting completely professional for the sake of gaining the scholars' respect, nodded and brought out her scroll, unrolling it. “Well, there are some major details about the Hundred Years War that your history books seem to overlook or gloss over, and more importantly, there are figures you seem to have forgotten completely.” Izumi cleared her throat.  
“The most prevalent being Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe. She wasn’t even mentioned. As we all know, during the Siege of the North, Admiral Zhao killed the mortal form of the moon spirit La, rendering waterbenders powerless. Avatar Aang entered the avatar state and joined forces with the ocean spirit Tui and defeated Zhao’s forces. So, you mention the death of the moon spirit, but there isn’t a passage explaining how it came back to life.”

“Well, in all honesty, princess, we aren’t quite sure about what happened and neither are our sources.” Zakir said.

“Do your sources include the Northern Water tribe, because they should be able to explain to you how Princess Yue was born almost dead, but when her father placed her in the spirit oasis, La breathed life into her. During the Siege of the North, Princess Yue was only sixteen years old but she was brave and selfless enough to sacrifice herself to save La. Since La had given her life, she gave that life back and revived La.”

The professors looked dumbfounded. One of them took out a scroll and quill and started frantically writing. Zakir, recovering quickly, said “Do you have any other concerns princess?”

“I do, about Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.”

Zakir frowned slightly. “Avatar Aang’s wife?”

Izumi scowled. “Do you ever call Avatar Aang the husband of Katara of the Southern Water Tribe?”

“Well, no, your highness, but he is the Avatar…”

“And she was his waterbending master, contrary to what your book says. Avatar Aang himself would tell you that Katara was his trainer and teacher. Master Pakku taught both Katara and Avatar Aang forms and techniques, but Katara also deserves some credit for working constantly with Avatar Aang in order for him to reach mastery. Also, on section 3 chapter 9 page 16 paragraph 2 line 7, your book states that the Northern Water Tribe realized the strategic disadvantage of reducing all female waterbenders to healers, when they could serve as soldiers instead, but that’s not really true. Katara had traveled with Avatar Aang to the North pole to find a waterbending master, but Pakku was mean old man, stuck in his traditional ways. Despite being untrained, Katara challenged him to a fight and fought against him, and almost won. Pakku realized how talented she was and agreed to train her. After that, the tribe realized how dumb they were being and allowed women to master waterbending.”

Zuko was impressed with how little she seemed to breathe in between her sentences. It was a shame she was a nonbender. That amount of breath control could put many masters to shame.

From there on, it was a barrage of Katara’s accomplishments. The little ones (“She was last known waterbender in the Southern Water Tribe after the Fire Nation raids.”), the big ones (“She’s the only known bloodbender and the only person who can break the hold of a bloodbender.”), and the weird ones (“She once broke out of a wooden jail by using her own sweat as bending water.”).

The professor who was writing the information down ran out of space on both the front and back side of the scroll and was reaching for a new scroll while Izumi was explaining how Katara once pretended to be a spirit to help a village and blew up a Fire Nation factory in the process. The professor had almost reached the end of his scroll when a knock at the door drew everyone’s attention. Zuko called for them to enter and an imperial guard came in, bowing respectfully.

“Your majesty, Fire Lady Mai requests that crown princess Izumi accompanies her for afternoon tea.”

Zuko glanced at Izumi. Her eyes had dimmed and she looked disappointed and almost sure her father was going to make her leave.

“Tell Fire lady Mai that princess Izumi is in an important meeting right now, and that she will join her later.”

Izumi smiled brightly.

The guard nodded and bowed, making his way out.

The men turned their attention back to Izumi.“Um, I think we talked enough about Katara. I have one more concern though, about Toph Beifong. On section 3 chapter 6 page 19 paragraph 3 line 11, you say Toph is an earthbender who invented metalbending, but you don’t mention that she was twelve years old. You don’t mention that she trapped in a metal box and invented metal bending to escape. You don’t mention that she was the Avatar’s earthbending master, or that she learned her earthbending from badgermoles. You don’t mention that she also mastered sandbending.”

“Well, to be fair, we have no evidence of her sandbending abilities.”

“Ask her to build you a sandcastle.” replied Izumi dryly.

Zuko stifled the laughter that threatened to bubble out and turned it into an abrupt clearing of his throat.

“Your book doesn’t even mention that she’s blind and that her earthbending helps her see by sensing the vibrations in the ground.”

“Your highness, with all due respect, this is a history book. We cannot let it run off into tangents that are ultimately just inconsequential facts.” Zakir said, his voice doing a poor job of hiding frustration.

“Your book included three-page biographies for Fire Lord Sozin, Azulon, and Ozai.” Izumi pointed out irritatedly.

“I see how you may find that questionable, your highness, but we add that information so that our readers could understand how these men were shaped into starting the war.”

“And you should add my information so that your readers can understand how these women were shaped into ending this war.” Izumi remarked quickly. “You may not realize it, but by dismissing the deeds of these women, you are doing them and all those that they had helped a great injustice. Lying by omission is still lying, and your book will be deemed unreliable if it cannot tell the whole truth. ‘Words cannot be dismissed when they are grounded in truth’, that’s what my uncle always says.” Izumi stood up.“That’s really all I have to say, gentlemen. I’m off to join my mother for some tea. Have a nice evening.” She bowed slightly to her father, treaded past the men, and left the room, closing the door softly on her way out.

Not for the first time in Izumi’s life, Zuko considered shedding tears of utter pride.

“Your daughter is quite the young lady, my lord.” Zakir remarked, still a bit stunned.

Zuko smiled. “She is, isn’t she?”

-

After the professors had left, promising to write a new edition the princess would be proud of, Zuko went to the garden to find Izumi practicing her forms, courtesy of the tutelage of Ty Lee and the occasional advice from Suki. She swiped and twisted her fans through the air, occasionally adding a high kick during particularly complicated techniques.

Zuko found Mai sitting next to the turtleduck pond, watching Izumi. He sat down next to her and kissed in her lightly on the cheek.

“Someone’s in a good mood.” she murmured.

“I was just thinking that the minute Izumi turns eighteen, I’m retiring.” Zuko said.

“Really?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Really.” he confirmed. “She’s amazing, Mai. She’s intelligent, thoughtful, authoritative. She’s a born leader.” The pride in Zuko’s voice was infectious and Mai found herself smiling slightly.

“She has a lot of amazing people to look up to.” said Mai.

They both watched as Izumi lowered her fans as a baby turtleduck approached her. She sat down next to it and started to pet it, before taking out a cracker from her pocket and breaking it into little pieces to feed it by scattering them on the ground.

“She does.”

**Author's Note:**

> Criticism is welcome.


End file.
